Bonds Of Sisterhood
by Wilted.Rose777
Summary: Quistis' little sister has just revealed herself... will Quistis betray her to heighten her status in the Garden


**A/N: This is the first thing I've posted on a site, so forgive me if it's terrible… still trying to work out a major conflict, but I think I know the direction I wanna take**

**I don't own anything, other than my OC. Enjoy**

Cait had watched Quistis Trepe since she had returned almost three months ago. It could almost be seen as obsessive: But Cait was cautious.

From her observation, the brunette deduced that Quistis was quite an uptight woman. This broke Cait's heart as she walked, five feet behind the now famous instructor, whose nose was buried in a large textbook.

Cait followed Quistis to the library, seemingly by accident. As Quistis sat at a small desk, Cait pretended to rummage through the books, pulling one out at random.

The younger Quistis would never have sat like this for so long, Cait thought to herself almost 2 hours later, slumping to the floor. Surely Quistis _must_ be tired by now. Cait glanced down at her watch, sighing: Midnight. There would be no other time for this, classes started again the next morning.

She left, and Quistis looked over her shoulder, watching the brunette's retreating frame. She reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone. She flicked through the photos, smiling sadly when she found the picture she was looking for: two little girls, hugging each other tightly, one blonde, and one brunette. Their smiles were unmistakable in the low light. Quistis closed the phone, standing up.

"What are you doing here?" She muttered, walking towards the exit.

[ Cait 

The Garden was a lonely place, even in the height of the day, when people were squealing joyfully. I walked towards the elevator, pulling my bag further up my shoulder. My headphone fell from my ear and I sighed, reaching up to put it back in.

"_Pretty women are a wonder…"_ I reached into my pocket, turning down the volume slightly. I made my way up the stairs. Being slightly clumsy, I tripped up the last stair, and I swore as everything fell from my bag at once.

"Dammit…" I muttered, headphone falling from my ear again. I began scooping all of my discarded belongings into a pile so I could stuff it all haphazardly into my bag when I was finished.

"Aww, bummer." I heard a female voice say, and I looked up, seeing a petite girl crouch down to help me. "What happened?" she asked, picking up my black folder cautiously. I laughed dryly.

"Tripped over my two left feet." I took the folder from her, stuffing it into my bag violently. I straightened up to thank the girl, and tilted my head, "…I know who you are." I told her, pointing to her, but putting a name to her now curious face was proving difficult. I decided to take a guess and hope that I wasn't wrong, "You're Selphie Tilmitt, aren't you?"

Selphie nodded, smiling brightly again. I laughed quietly, as the elevator 'pinged' open and a stream of children and adults walked out, gabbing loudly. Selphie waved a hand towards the elevator and I nodded. We entered the small space and I heard a small cracking sound.

"Oops…" Selphie muttered, lifting her boot: my discarded headphone lay on the floor, broken beyond repair. "Sorry."

"It's all right." I stooped down to pick up the device, pulling it from my player and tossing it into my bag. "I can get another pair." Selphie's smile returned as the doors closed and the elevator began its ascent. "So are you going to classes still?" Selphie nodded, folding her arms over her chest.

This small over-hyperactive girl standing next to me had saved the world from potential destruction and she still had to go to classes? It didn't make sense! I asked her about it.

"Why?" Selphie frowned.

"Squall says that just because we saved the world doesn't mean we're exempt from lessons… It's not like HE has to go!" she whined, stamping her foot against the ground as the elevator stopped abruptly. "Whoa!" the girl stumbled, falling to her knees painfully. "Ow…" She stood up carefully as the doors opened.

"Sefie, you're SO clumsy!"

A tall brunette man was standing across the hall from the elevator, leaning against it. He propped himself upright, folding his arms across his vest clad chest. Selphie placed a hand on her hip staring at the man.

"Am not!" she argued, before looking across at me, "I'm such a bonehead!"

"Huh?" The tall man and I asked her in unison. She pulled me from the elevator, closer to the tall stranger, who watched me cautiously from under the brim of a cowboy hat.

"Irvy, this is…" she bit her lower lip, thinking, before looking over at me again, "I never asked you you're name!" I smiled at her, re-adjusting my bag.

"Cait," I told her, glancing back at the man, who was fixing his long duster, "nice to meet you, 'Irvy'." I heard Selphie laugh as I looked down at my watch.

"It's IRVINE little lady, "he told me, and I raised an eyebrow. Selphie, because of her short stature, had to stand on tip toe to slap the man playfully.

"Are you going to hit on EVERYONE?" she asked him: Now seemed the appropriate time to make my exit before I was late to class. As I made to leave Selphie stopped arguing with the man, waving at me. I returned the gesture, walking towards my assigned classroom.

As the door whizzed open I made my way in, looking for a place to sit: There was a seat in the back, so that was the direction I headed. I sat down, flinging my bag onto the desk, next to the onboard computer. I was about to pull my stuff out to reorganize it when a sharp, female voice called the class to silence. I glanced towards the front of the class, breath hitching in my throat.

It was Quistis. The tall blonde placed her folder on her desk elegantly, and threw straight into a rehearsed lecture about the last six months. I sighed quietly, tugging my folder from my bag, opening it. The picture on the inside cover was torn slightly from its trip across the Garden floor. The face of the little blonde girl was intact, smiling up at me happily. I closed the folder, pushing it aside distractedly.

Flashback

"_Are you okay bubbles?" I asked the little blonde girl, who was lying on a bed, her left arm in a bulky cast. The girl's eyes were red and puffy from crying. She nodded, and I took her good hand, hers bigger in mine._

"_I think I will be." She said, squeezing my hand. "Will you tell me a story?" I nodded._

"_There once were two heroes…"_

"_I've heard this one before Squeak!" she said smiling. I shook my head._

"_No, this one's different!"_

End Flashback.

I don't know how much time had passed, but Quistis had thrown into another discussion, waving her hands animatedly as she talked. All I knew was… that I didn't know anything. I found myself humming quietly, the last song I had heard before my headphones were destroyed.

"Dincht!"

The harsh word broke my thoughts, and thus my humming. Quistis was bearing down on- from what I could see- a man with a monstrosity of blonde hair.

"Would you quit that INFERNAL humming?!" I gulped nervously. "I've told you about this before! Out!"

"It wasn't me instructor!" he whined, throwing gloved hands in the air. I saw Quistis' face harden and braced myself.

"OUT!" she screeched, pointing her finger towards the door. The man stood, placing his hands at the base of his hair, before leaving. I sighed, knowing I was going to regret this.

"Excuse me… Instructor?" I stood up, pushing my folder into my bag. The blonde woman turned on me, folding her arms savagely.

"What is it…" she seemed to be at a loss for my name.

"It's White Instructor," I told her, "and… I was humming." The class gasped and I smirked at their reaction.

"Out!"

The hallway was empty, save for the wrongly accused man, who was shadow-boxing. He looked over at me when the door whizzed shut and I folded my arms.

"You gave yourself up?" he asked, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his denim shorts. "You must be bold… or really, really stupid." I raised an eyebrow, "okay, okay, sorry!"

"Just don't like to see others be caught out for something they didn't do." I offered, leaning against the wall. He nodded, following suit.

"Zell." He told me, pulling a hand from his pocket. He offered it to me after he dusted it on his shorts. I took it, shaking it firmly.

"Cait." I replied. "Yeah… I remember you know." Zell's blue eyes narrowed slightly, "You helped me during the last battle here." He tilted his head curiously.

"I did?" I nodded. Recognition passed over his face, "ohhh yeah," Zell slid down the wall, stretching as he sat down, "You were in a pretty bad way."

"Well, that's what happens when two Gardens go to war…" I trailed off, sitting next to him. I pulled up the sleeve of my jacket, remembering how my right wrist was purple before the loud fighter had cast a 'Cura' on me.

"it looks better now," he commented, scratching the tattooed side of his face as he stared at my pale arm, now back to it's normal size and color.

"yeah."

Quistis called Zell back into the classroom after everyone else had filed out almost a full hour later. I was seriously wishing that Selphie hadn't broken my headphones, because I was bored STIFF!

"She wants to see you now." I looked up at Zell, who looked at my sympathetically. "Good luck." I smiled as he reached a hand down to pull me up. .

"Thanks." I replied, "I'll see you around?" Zell nodded, jogging down the hallway. I entered the classroom cautiously, jumping as the door closed.

"Sit." I looked at Quistis who was sitting in her high backed chair, arms folded. I took a seat across from her, staring at her defiantly. "Why did you confess?" I tilted my head, stunned.

"I don't like to see people blamed for something I did?" I offered, leaning back in the tiny hardwood chair. Quistis nodded and I felt even more unsettled.

"While it is an admirable quality, doing the thing that gets another accused of it is unacceptable, so I'm going to give you—"

"Do you know who I am, instructor?" I asked, feeling anger bubbling inside me suddenly. Quistis scoffed.

"You? Why would I know who you are White?" she asked, "what does this have to do with your punishment?" I raised an eyebrow at her

"It has everything to do with it if you'd get your finger out of it and realized who I am!" I shot at her, standing up. My chair flew into a table and the sound reverberated throughout the room.

"I don't KNOW you!" she said, leaning forward in her chair. I almost laughed: always like her to be the calm one, even when she was little.

"You may not remember me now, but do you remember when you were 8 years old and you broke your arm? Who was there to tell you stories so you would forget the pain?" Quistis' eyes widened suddenly "Think carefully before you answer, because it WILL affect the outcome of this conversation." She began to shake her head, as if doing that would bring her out of this situation.

"You can't be her," she said, standing up finally, "she went to Timber." I shook my head.

"No she didn't, she came to the Garden to find you. C'mon Bubbles, you have to believe me."

If Quistis' eyes could open any wider, they would have.

"But… how?" she asked. I shook my head, walking towards the desk. "Squeak?"

"You know it." Quistis walked around the desk, throwing her arms around me. I stumbled backward a few steps, laughing. "What you been up to sis?"


End file.
